For Coercion of Colombia + 

“The ships steam south + 

From the harbor mouth + 

In warlike, grim array! + 

They load the seas, + 

And on every breeze + 

I hear the brass bands play + 

As the squadrons steer away. + 

“From each foreign shore + 

They are coming o’er + 

The oceans big and small, + 

With cheering crews + 

And churning screws, + 

And guns and shot and all. + 

And Admirals that appal! + 

“In tropical seas + 

They are thick as bees. + 

Oh, ne’er on the Trojan strand + 

Was gathered a fleet + 

So hard to beat + 

As sails to that southern land. + 

’Tis terribly, terribly grand! + 

“O sailorman stout, + 

What’s it all about? + 

If you happen to know tell me. + 

That the foe has no chance + 

His troops to advance + 

To the field we all agree, + 

And the devil a ship has he.” + 

He shifted his quid, + 

The sailorman did, + 

To the starboard side of his face. + 

His trousers he hitched + 

As he rolled and pitched, + 

Maintaining his dubious place + 

With a certain maritime grace. + 

He looked at the sky + 

With a studious eye, + 

And this singular yarn he spun: + 

“When the wind’s sou’west + 

Every man’s possessed + 

Of a devil!⁠—no son-of-a-gun + 

Can tell what’s fit to be done.” + 

Perhaps it was naught + 

But a sailorman’s thought, + 

But I said to myself: “I’m blest + 

If I can’t mark down + 

A man of renown + 

Who is living in mental unrest + 

Where the wind is forever sou’west.” + 